Tag: report

IBP has made great strides in 2011/2012 – cementing its status as a true knowledge hub for journalists and communications professionals working in the built environment sector.

Following former president Denise Chevin’s review of IBP we have introduced a number of new ideas. We have also injected new blood into the main IBP board and to the judging panels for our flagship Annual National Journalism Awards.

Our IBP Twitter feed is generating strong interest, and is a powerful information resource for anyone following architecture, construction, engineering, housing and commercial property news.

We were delighted that the Futures Group staged a workshop on designing for the iPad last autumn, showing that the built environment is at the cutting edge of this particular innovation in the publishing world. A webcam of the main presentations is available to view on the IBP website. Plans are well advanced to hold another Futures Group interview, with a leading web editor, Richard Fletcher, Editor, Telegraph.co.uk, which is scheduled for Tuesday September 18th – full details will be circulated nearer the date.

And in true IBP tradition we hosted our first speed-dating ‘Face to Face for 10’ event, where public relations executives met senior journalists, including Claer Barrett (Financial Times), Rebecca Evans (Construction News), Martin Hilditch (Inside Housing), Deirdre Hipwell (Times), Elaine Knutt (Construction Manager), Christine Murray (Architects’ Journal), Sarah Richardson (Building), and myself, for 10 minute bursts in a rapid-fire event which proved to be a learning curve for both editors and PR’s. Similar sessions are in development for 2012/13.

I am delighted to welcome Stuart Macdonald of Inside Housing, Rebecca Evans from Construction News, Christine Murray of Architects’ Journal, Donal McCabe of Land Securities and Jonny Popper of London Communications Agency on to the IBP board; it is this new breed of journalists and communications experts that will provide the ideas which will continue to take IBP forward.

IBP is also launching, in association with Gorkana, the media database and portal for PR’s and journalists, a ‘new’ PR and Communications Awards scheme for the built environment sector in September 2012. The call for entries and the judging, by leading editors and senior communications executives, will take place in the New Year with an Awards presentation event taking place in the late spring.

The Annual Welbeck Strategic Land Debate is due to take place on Monday September 24th, hosted again by Hogan Lovells and IBP, with the working title: “Why will future generations remain in the countryside – where will you live, where will you work?” The speaker panel is in development and full details will be circulated nearer the date.

And we also look forward this year to returning to the spiritual home of the IBP Journalism Awards – the Four Seasons hotel on Park Lane – for the end of year ceremony which will be bigger and better then ever before.

New Award categories are in development and new judges, including: Lee Baker, Director, aop, Pip Clothier, journalist and broadcaster, Mark Collins, Executive Director, CBRE, Jerry Gosney, Digital Publishing Consultant, PPA, Steve Hale, MD, Crofton, Liz Peace, Chief Executive, BPF, Stephen Thornton, UK Head External Affairs, RICS and John Waples, former Sunday Times business editor, Senior MD, FTI Consulting, join our panels this year; but the same commitment to quality and impartiality for which the IBP Awards have stood for, for nearly 40 years, will again be our watchword in 2012.

Finally my thanks to the rest of the IBP board, to outgoing chairman, Alan Smith (Kier Group) and incoming chairman Harriett Hindmarsh (AECOM) and, of course, to our tireless chief executive Gerald Bowey.

If you would like to suggest an IBP event, or become involved with our organization in any way, please contact me at giles.barrie@ubm.com To keep in touch with IBP events and updates please go to www.ibp.org.ujk

Giles Barrie
Editor in Chief, Property Week
President IBP

The Shape of Things to Come

In the past we have presented a report of the last year’s activities. We have consigned looking back to the waste bin and intend to concentrate on the future and how IBP is shaping-up to the task of delivering ‘insights’ into our industry sector; how journalism and the constantly changing way in which we all deliver the news and break the next story.

During my Presidency I am going to build on the findings of the IBP Futures Group, chaired by the FT’s Claer Barrett and the recent Review of IBP carried out by the previous President, Denise Chevin. Fundamentally we will be focusing on issues that will assist both journalists and communications professionals to do their jobs more effectively and deliver a better ‘product’. So education, continued professional development, technology and other key subjects will be delivered with a mixture of fun events, interesting speakers and audience participation.

The Futures Group, which is not targeted at any section or age group within IBP, has already proved that this approach works. We have had an evening with John Waples, an interactive Q & A with a panel of legal experts on litigation, an insightful session with Mira Bar Hillel and in September we will have a session with a panel of experts on the iPad, apps and their potential to bring the news quicker and to a bigger audience.

We are embarking on a major international recruitment drive to develop the overseas journalist membership, aligned to an International Journalist of the Year Awards scheme, amongst other benefits.

We have in development the IBP Communications Awards, due to be launched next spring, which, like its sibling the long established National Journalism Awards, will recognize and reward good communications and communicators, with a panel of senior editors initially judging on line entries and then interviewing finalists in several categories. All this will be delivered at the newly formatted annual IBP Summer Party.

Our key annual event, the National Journalism Awards, has been refreshed and new category guidance notes and a hints and tips section have been added to this years “Call for Entries”. This year we are a fixture at Chelsea Football Club; for 2012 we return to our former regular home the Four Seasons Hotel, in Park Lane, which has had its 2012 make over for the Olympics – IBP is due to take over the venue on the 22nd November, when we hope to deliver our own Olympian Awards and hand out the prizes for the best in journalism.

I hope I can count on your support, whether an editor, journalist or communications professional, to drive these new initiatives forward and help deliver a programme of events that really makes a difference.

Please email me on: giles.barrie@ubm.com if you would like to get involved with any of these initiatives or if you have an interesting idea you would like to see develop as part of the IBP programme.

See you soon

Giles Barrie
President Elect

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IBP President's Statement 2011 - Giles Barrie

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In common with our sector IBP has had a mixture of good and bad news to deal with. Nevertheless in 2009 we continued to provide members with the key events that set IBP apart from other communications groups, celebrated our 40th Anniversary and set-up the first Futures Group.

One of the partnerships to suffer was with The All Party Parliamentary Built Environment Group with which we had planned to co-host another Housing debate in the light of the Bill being adopted (given Royal Assent early 2010) and the run-up to the next general election. With the dire state of the housing market and politicians of all shades running for cover, under the general excuse of being in purdah, this initiative fell by the wayside.

Last June’s IBP Journalists v PR’s cricket match, sponsored by restoration and stone specialists Szerelmey, produced another PR winning side, with team captains, Dave Rogers (Construction News, now running his own media company) and Andy Walker (in his last act before leaving ACE for the charity sector) giving their all – both in taking the field and shouting encouragement to their teams.

The Annual Summer Dinner held at the RAC was a truly International affair not only kicking-off the IBP 40th celebrations but also marking the CIOB’s 175th Anniversary with their President Li Shirong delivering a keynote speech, to over 70 members, on the opportunities available from the continuing emerging markets in China.

Professor Li also presented the first of the 2009 crop of Awards the Subscription and In-House Magazine of the Year – with the chairman of the judges Giles Barrie, editor of Property Week, providing his usual running commentary on the judge’s final choices.

Commenting, Giles said: “We had a lively and invigorating final judging session in both categories and were most impressed with the variety on offer and the different approaches taken”. In acknowledging the judges deliberations he particularly thanked architectural author and journalist Ruth Slavid, former editor of AJ Online, “for her forensic analysis of the entries”.

Giles praised the Willmott Dixon and Costain entries two polished publications, “the Judges relished the openness with which Willmott Dixon described some big corporate changes, while Costain clearly demonstrated communications flair in the packed issues of Blueprint submitted” he said.

Announcing Mott Macdonald’s m2 the winner, in the In-House category, Giles commented: “This is a publication for its time, concise, colourful yet cost effective, with a lot of personality, information and projects and an overall warm feel to the presentation of the contents”.

In the Subscription category Giles announced a Highly Commended Award for Construction Manager, a former winner, “this magazine has improved again under the editorship of Elaine Knutt, with a marked stronger editorial voice on behalf of the membership of the CIOB” he said.

But the winner in this category was ‘A’ from RIBA North West. “We were truly wowed by this title. It looks and feels great but does not limit itself to highly specialized or pretentious architectural fare” he said. Indeed the issue that impressed the judges the most was the issue that focused on the recession “far more enjoyable” he said “than the Le Corbusier issue at the same time there was a great North West spirit flowing throughout” he concluded.

In July we held a unique concert of two parts to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the founding of IBP; starting at the spiritual home of journalism, St Bride’s Church Fleet Street, the magnificent choir took us through a programme of four decades of contemporary music and song. This was followed in The Press House by supper and live music with Clarence King and the Regents, fronted by Bob Kidby and including guest spots by Claer Barrett and Jack Russell. The whole evening was made possible because of the generous support of Bob Kidby and the sponsorship of Lovells, now Hogan Lovells.

Last October unfortunately saw another casualty of the credit crunch, after four seasons, the IBP Regional Journalism Awards were stood down because of lack of sponsorship support from the North West property sector. The IBP board will review the situation in 2010.

But October also saw a full turnout of all the judges sitting on the National Journalism Awards panels; some twenty four journalists and construction industry professionals came together for the final judging session, again hosted by The Building Centre in Store Street, to make their final selections. This follows the assessment of over three hundred articles and twenty magazines. A daunting task delivered with great care and professionalism by the judges.

To close the 40th Anniversary programme a capacity audience attended the IBP Annual National Journalism Awards in the Members’ Dining Room at the House of Commons, preceded by a reception, supported by BDP, in the Strangers’ Dining Room.

The individual categories, (with the exception of the Housing Journalist Award), continued to be well supported by sponsors with the evening event also being sponsored by Resolution Property. Entries in most categories remained high with a range of positive news and feature stories as well as analytical pieces on the credit crunch grabbing the headlines and the Awards please see the Awards’09 Bulletin report on the IBP website homepage for full results.

We were most fortunate to have as our Guest Speaker Roy Greenslade, Media Analysis, Evening Standard and Professor of Journalism at City University London who gave us his ‘take’ on the battle between print and online news gathering and delivery to the reader (a full transcript of Roy’s speech can be viewed on the homepage); while Peter Murray, Director of NLA, guided us through the Award categories with his usual insightful links.

Your executive board (please see full listing attached to the AGM papers) continues to oversee the events and ‘new’ initiatives that IBP takes forward on an annual basis they should all be congratulated on the very positive way in which they work together and contribute to the meetings, often after putting in a full days work.

Having reached our 40th Anniversary the board has set-up a number of Futures Groups to look at the interests and needs of young journalists and communicators. In addition, with sponsors, we are looking at the development of the National Awards scheme and the online role provided by members in delivering the news. Claer Barrett, associate editor of Investors Chronicle has kindly agreed to chair the Young Futures Group and reported to the board in February 2010. By the time you read this report I hope you will already see positive additions to the IBP programme.

Of course the events mentioned above and other IBP initiatives are regularly reported and archived on the website for your further interest. Do take a look.

IBP will only prosper if we share the issues that interest us. Journalists need to engage and set the agenda with communications professionals both in-house and in consultancies; PR’s need to talk to journalists before they target their news stories. How often have we heard the clarion call know your media? Well use the IBP network to help build your relationship with journalists.

IBP has and can continue to contribute to the wider on-going debates constantly taking place in our sector, in this context I encourage you to get involved and to make a difference, we now have future groups that can help facilitate your input – please do not hesitate to contact IBP.